On the way to Norway...

My case is almost packed again. Just a few more hours and I'll be heading to the airport for my flight from Edinburgh to Oslo. I'll arrive in Norway around midnight, and will be spending the next few days in Grimerud, meeting with the faculty committee for the College of Education in the University of the Nations. We'll be prayerfully considering the way forward in terms of our education and youth ministry degree programmes around the world. The last time I was in Grimerud was in January 2009 when I was co-leading a child and youth ministry school there. Everything was covered in a deep blanket of snow and the temperature was minus 26 degrees - officially the coldest day of my life so far! The forecast for the coming days is for around 14 degrees - a respectable Scandinavian summer temperature, no doubt. On Sunday I'll fly back to Spain, where we're still experiencing late summer temperatures of 25 - 35 degrees.

Taste and see...

Speaking at church on Sunday morning, I resurrected an old illustration that we used to use fifteen years ago in South Africa: I told people about my "money saving tip" of using pet food instead of normal mince or beef when making spaghetti sauce or stew. And to demonstrate how delicious it is, I opened a tin of cat food and proceeded to eat a few spoonfuls right there in the church. A few volunteers came forward to taste it for themselves, while the majority held back with disgusted expressions on their faces. So those who tasted for themselves were the only ones who discovered the truth: that this the brown mixture in the tin wasn't really cat food, but was a mixture I had made myself from Mars bars and jelly!! The label on the tin was a lie... but those who refused to try it for themselves missed out on a rather tasty dessert. The Bible tells us to "taste and see that God is good." (Psalm 34 vs 8) Some people never experience the goodness of God, because they believe some lie or stereotype instead of "tasting" and finding out for themselves what God is like. My goal on Sunday morning was to challenge people to leave their stereotypes behind, and to find out for themselves what it's like to know Jesus personally in 2012.

TW+TWTW (The wedding and the week that was)

This week started off with the wedding of Joseph and Abbey - a romantic affair in the beautiful Spanish sunshine at Villa Rehoboth. You can see the handsome couple in this lovely photo taken by Mexican photographer friend, Beto.

Most of the rest of the week was taken up with preparing and packing for my trip, and then, on Thursday evening, I flew to Scotland, arriving in Glasgow at midnight. 

I'll be here with my family for a week, and then I'll be travelling to Norway for some College of Education meetings, before flying back down to Spain again on September 2nd. I'm pleased to report that the shingles pain seems to be improving, and I'm trusting I'll soon be completely fit and well again. 

It's also been great to see how my Dad's health is continuing to improve; he's been out of hospital and recovering at home for nearly three months now. He still has an open wound (from the operation) in his side, but it is slowly closing up, and nurses come in several times a week to change the dressing. Today we got news that my aunt, my Dad's older sister, passed away in the hospital this morning. This means that my Dad is now the only remaining sibling from his family of six brothers and sisters. This would have seemed unthinkable some eight or ten months ago, when we were the ones being called to the hospital and told that he had only a few hours left to live. 

I am truly in awe of the way God has fulfilled the promise He made about my Dad when he was lying critically ill in the intensive care unit. From Jeremiah 31 vs 4, God said, "I will restore you and you will be built up again." It has been truly miraculous to see this happen in my Dad's life over the past ten months. What an amazing God we serve!

Quinceañera

In just one week's time, we'll be celebrating a wedding here in Alhaurin. Joseph and Abbey get married next Monday, and they recently gave us the exciting news that they'll be committing the first year of their marriage to serving the leadership retreat centre as cooks and caterers. We all know that preparing a wedding is a lot of work.... but I had an interesting cultural experience this past weekend that opened my eyes to the huge amount of work that is put into a totally different kind of celebration. My house was the venue for a quinceañera party. Wendy, the daughter of a Bolivian friend, turned fifteen recently, and a girl's fifteenth birthday is a big event in many Latin American countries. It's celebrated differently from any other birthday, as it marks the girl's transition from childhood to young womanhood.
From early morning on Saturday, half a dozen South American ladies worked all day to decorate our house with floral garlands and balloons, as well as preparing all the food and drink for the party itself. I was still feeling unwell with the shingles (which meant I shouldn't be around the girl's mother, who is pregnant) so I went to sleep at a friend's house and missed the actual party itself. However, just the preparations were quite a sight to see. The photos above show the birthday girl, Wendy (in the turquoise dress) and the girl in the little black number is our own Gabriela, who recently turned thirteen. How time flies! Gabriela had just turned ten when we started sharing the house together. In just a couple of years, it'll be time for her quinceañera too.

Quiet times...

The best way to deepen any friendship is to spend relaxed, quality time with that person. The same is true of our friendship with God: it is so important that we have still times and special places that we share together.
When I lived in Cape Town, one of my favourite ways to spend time with God was when I was taking the dog for a walk. Against the beautiful backdrop of the Durbanville hills and the Stellenbosch mountains, I would chat with the Lord and perhaps sing a song of worship to Him as I walked leisurely with my border collie. Things look a bit different in my present setting. I don't have a dog here in Spain, and arthritis in my feet has meant that I don't walk as much as I used to. Often my special times with God happen in my bedroom in the early morning - usually when I'm still in my pyjamas. I sit at my desk, with my Bible open in front of me, and one of the cats, usually Tamba, leaps up to snuggle on my lap while I'm reading my Bible, praying and writing in my journal. It's different.... but it's just another way of connecting with God.
Walking the dog, sitting with the cat, kneeling in your bedroom, lying on the sofa, sitting in the garden, walking in the park..... There are so many different possibilities. What are your still times and special places for spending time with God?

Goodbye Chicago - my email has changed

For some time now, I’ve been receiving invitations to shopping events, charity functions, and even a free manicure in the city of Chicago. However, I’ve also received several dozen other emails - some addressed to “Mom” or “Aunt Barbara” - which all pointed to the fact that some other woman, who shares my name, lives in Illinois and has an email address that is almost identical to mine. The only difference is that her address has a dot between her first name and surname. Gmail claims that this is “impossible” and that these two variations are one and the same address. This only goes part way to explaining why I sometimes get this other Barbara’s mail and why she sometimes gets mine. It doesn’t explain how she managed to create this “same”  address in the first place. Anyway, I didn’t like the idea of my mail making its way to Chicago instead of to Alhaurín, and so - for reasons of security and privacy - I decided this week to change the email address that I’ve using for the past six years. If you haven’t already received my email announcing the new address, just drop me a line (at the old address) and I’ll send you my new contact details.

Suffering with shingles

Thank you, everyone for your prayers this week while I’m in bed with shingles. I had naively thought the fact that I'm in pain most of the time anyway (with arthritis) would mean that I'd cope better with shingles pain. I was wrong, however. It's just a different kind of pain, on top of the usual muscular pain. This past weekend was particularly hard, with a pounding headache, and a lot of pain in my eye and ear on the right side of my face, as well as down the right side of my body. As I'm one of those fortunate people who never get headaches, the constant throbbing was a bit of a trial. I stayed in bed all weekend, but could barely even concentrate enough to read. The good news is that the pain in my face and head seems to have eased slightly now, and I’m trusting that the pain in my back and arm will soon abate too. Thanks for your prayers.